Overview

Bioinformatician – Location: Oxfordshire (hybrid); Type: Full-time, permanent; Salary: Up to £60,000 + benefits.

About the Company

This early-stage biotech is developing a next- genetics platform to engineer crops for global food security and sustainability. By drawing inspiration from the vast diversity of wild plants, they’re designing new solutions to boost yield stability and resilience in a changing climate.

Backed by strong scientific foundations and entering a new phase of growth, the company is now expanding its computational biology capabilities. They are looking for a driven and collaborative Bioinformatician to help build the data and analysis pipelines that will underpin their crop engineering platform.

The Role

You will join a multidisciplinary team of scientists and computational biologists, working closely with experimental colleagues to mine and analyse large-scale omics datasets. Your work will inform trait design and directly contribute to building crops with higher performance and resilience.

This is a hands-on role where you will take ownership of developing, curating, and maintaining bioinformatics pipelines, while shaping best practice in data management as the company scales. It’s an opportunity to contribute as an early foundational hire, working at the intersection of computational biology, plant science, and applied genetics.

What You’ll Do

• Lead the development and optimisation of NGS analysis pipelines (RNA/DNA-seq, transcriptomics, genomics)
• Curate, integrate, and analyse diverse large-scale omics datasets (public and in-house)
• Support trait discovery through transcriptomic, comparative genomic, and evolutionary analyses
• Collaborate with wet-lab scientists to co-design experiments and translate data into actionable insights
• Establish and promote best practices in data management and collaborative workflows
• Contribute to an open, innovative culture, bringing new methods and ideas into the team

What We’re Looking For

Required

• Advanced degree (PhD/MSc) in bioinformatics, computational biology, genomics, or related field
• Strong coding skills in Python; comfortable with Linux/Unix and Git/GitHub
• Experience with pipeline development (Snakemake or Nextflow)
• Proven track record analysing large omics datasets, especially transcriptomics and gene expression
• Experience with non-model organisms and diverse genomic data
• Ability to collaborate effectively across disciplines and communicate insights clearly

Nice to Have

• Background in crop science or plant genomics
• Experience with de novo transcriptome assembly
• Exposure to ML/AI methods applied to genomics or bioinformatics
• Prior experience in a start-up or small-team environment

Why Join?

• Play a foundational role in shaping the computational biology function of a fast-growing biotech
• Access to personal development budget for training, conferences, and networking
• Competitive benefits including life insurance, pension, private medical cover, and share options
• Collaborative and community-focused culture with regular team socials and shared meals
• Opportunity to work closely with leading scientists in an environment that values creativity, agility, and teamwork